Canadian officials monitoring the federal election For foreign interference said on Monday that they had detected an operation supported by Beijing on the Chinese social media platform WeChat focused on the liberal leader Mark Carney.
The “information” operation was launched by Youli-Youmian, the most popular press account in WeChat, which was linked to the Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Chinese Communist Party, said officials of security and intelligence threats (site).
According to the assessment unveiled on Monday, the operation was intended to influence Chinese Canadian communities and “mold perceptions” about Carney through articles that have been amplified and distributed by other WeChat accounts “in a coordinated and inauthentic way”.
“This information operation had contrasted positive and negative stories, first amplifying Mr. Carney’s position with the United States, then targeting his experience and references,” journalist Laurie-Anne Kempton, assistant secretary of the Cabinet for communications at the Bureau of the Private Council, told the journalist.
“I don’t think we can talk about intention, but I would say that the RPC (People’s Republic of China) should not try to shape the opinions of Canadians, especially during an electoral period.”
However, Kempton said that a panel of high bureaucrats that monitors the elections “determined that this does not affect Canada’s capacity to have a free and fair election”.
She explained that the WeChat campaign does not prevent Canadians from being able to decide in their vote.
The examples shared by Canadian officials of WeChat articles were mainly positive, calling Carney a “hard -cooked” and suggesting that he lined with US President Donald Trump against China.
The officials said on Monday that they did not want to more amplify the shared information, but noted that the intention to influence Canadian voters thanks to a coordinated operation supported by the State is a problem regardless of the promoted point of view.
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“The People’s People’s Republic of China is widely sturalized in terms of party in terms of its approach, and certainly as the information ecosystem changes, which may explain positive accounts in one case and negative in the other,” said Vanessa Lloyd, Director of Operations of Canada Security Intelligence Service.
The officials informed the liberal campaign of the Chinese operation on Sunday, “following the increase in the levels of engagement on the platform” two days after the appeal of the elections on March 23, said the working group.
The working group also noticed major peaks of activity on March 10, the day after Carney’s reception of the Liberal Directorate.
The site force of the site said that he would discuss the question of the Youli-Youmian account with the developer based in WeChat, Tencent, “to raise our concerns”.
The conversation will focus on the alert for the violations of its user policies against the spread of disinformation and influence operations, and it will be up to the company to take any measure taken against the incriminated accounts, officials said.
The items have spread through the operation received between 85,000 and 130,000 interactions and approximately one million at three million views.
In comparison, articles in Chinese state media such as the People’s Daily on WeChat receive an average of around 30,000 interactions, Canadian officials said.
“This case is contained in a single platform and has not spread more, and that does not affect the capacities of Canadians to make an informed decision on their vote,” said a statement from the working group.
“However, it is important that voters are aware of this type of activity and to be careful with the information they may see online and offline.”
The Youli-Youmian account was also behind information campaigns targeting the conservative and critical candidate of China Franc Michael Chong when he was deputy, as well as Chrystia FreelandThe former Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, while presented herself for the liberal management against Carney.
“Make no mistake, the Beijing Communist Party is engaged in a sophisticated campaign to interfere in the Canada election in order to re -election Mark Carney and the Liberals to a fourth term,” Chong said in a statement from the Conservative Party which focused on the positive stories distributed by the Chinese operation.
“The next Government of Canada is expected to be chosen by Canadians alone.”
Federal officials have determined that China sought to influence the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, but that their activities were not influenced. The concerns about foreign interference have led to more guarantees, surveillance and efforts to keep Canadians informed of influence efforts, including weekly information groups on the site.
Site managers have evaluated that Chinese actors affiliated with the State will continue to target Chinese communities in Canada, “pushing favorable accounts to RPC interests on social media platforms,” said Bridget Walshe, associate chief of the Canadian Cybersecurity Center, said the Ottawa Briefing.
The working group previously evaluated That actors of foreign threats like China, Russia and Iran were likely to use artificial intelligence tools and content generated by AI as Deepfakes to try to disturb the federal elections and to influence Canadian voters.
Such attempts are becoming more and more likely, officials announced on Monday.
“If it is difficult to predict what disinformation or influence campaigns will gain ground, we assess that it is very unlikely that disinformation or compatible AI cyber-activity would fundamentally undermine Canada’s democratic processes in this general election,” said Walshe.
– with Canadian press files
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